Chart entered : 28 May 1988
Chart peak : 5
Number of hits : 10
I wasn't expecting to be discussing this lot but there you go.
The Pasadenas were originally a dance troupe called Finnesse who specialised in appearing in music videos by London-based bands such as Freeez and Animal Nightlife. They also appeared in Absolute Beginners. They decided that singing would extend their shelf life . Three of the band were related , David and Michael Milliner who were born in Pasadena , and their half-brother Jeff Brown. Andrew Banfield, whose sister Susan was one half of rap duo The Cookie Crew, and the mixed race Hamish Seelochan were the other two members.
They got a deal with CBS and a support slot on Wet Wet Wet's UK tour in 1988 which helped this into the charts.
"Tribute ( Right On ) " , their first single, was written by the band in collaboration with Pete Wingfield and is defiantly retro in its approach , harking back to seventies soul and namechecking all the usual touchstones - Arethra, Smokey , Stevie Wonder et al. That sort of saluting was getting a bit tiresome by 1988 but the song has great horns and an irresistible funky groove and the boys, who swap vocal lines throughout, acquit themselves well both on the record and in the video. It's not quite their biggest hit in the UK but certainly their best. It's also their only hit in America.
I remember these lot for their subsequent biggest hit here... for whatever reason, I have a firm memory of them appearing on Saturday morning TV to promote it and enjoying it. In hindsight, their ambitions to be the new Temptations seem painfully apparent. But to their credit, they're a massive step above the class of boy/vocal bands that followed through the 90s.
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